The Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Poland repaid Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski for his support of the communist regime in China by donating money to a foundation of his wife, Jolanta Kwasniewska, the Polish weekly Gazeta Polska reported. Marek Jurek, a Polish lawmaker from the Law and Justice Party (a center-right political party), called the whole event "a discredit."
Gazeta Polska's article "The Chinese without barriers" by Piotr Lisiewicz provides more details of the close relationship between the big shots in the Alliance of the Democratic Left (the ruling party in Poland whose majority leaders were in the communist party before 1989 reforms) and the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party.
In 1998, Kwasniewski (also of the Alliance of the Democratic Left) and his wife paid a visit to China. During the visit Kwasniewski signed a declaration stating that there is only one China, and that it is the People's Republic of China.
Other countries sign similar declarations with communist China, but none goes as far as to interpret "one China" as the People's Republic of China.
In 2001, the Embassy of the People's Republic of China paid 20,000 Polish zlotych (US$5,903) to the foundation run by Mrs. Kwasniewska. International relations experts in Poland have no doubt that the foundation shouldn't have accepted this monty, since the benefactor was a communist regime.
There were other similar contributions by the Chinese administration, such as the Committee for the Preservation of Historical Sites and Buildings headed by another bigwig among former Polish communists, Jerzy Jaskiernia, which received money from the Chinese embassy. However, sometimes the Chinese used a middleman, for example in 2003, the foundation run by Mrs. Kwasniewska again received money, this time from the Chinese?Polish Association.
The close cooperation between the Polish left-wing establishment and China also included frequent bilateral visits. In 2002, the Polish president called on China and a year later the delegation of the Chinese Women Federation paid a visit to the Polish Parliament.
According to the report prepared by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, the motives for the visits and meetings for the Chinese delegates are very obvious. China spends a lot of money campaigning to improve its image around the world, and to make nations and their politicians ignore Tibet and the situation of Taiwan.
Chinese delegations visiting countries around the world have the strict political goal of trying to make international spectators believe in China's "progress" and "openness." Taiwan should be especially aware of these treacherous tactics applied by the Chinese regime to build a net of international arbiters who will discriminate against Taiwan in the international arena; those investing in China or promoting the idea of providing financial aid to China should realize that the communist regime uses their money to seduce people like the former apparatchiks in Poland.
In the Polish capital city, Warsaw there is already a joke spread around: "Taiwanese do not have to invest money in Poland, the CCP is already doing it for you."
Hanna Shen
Poland
The conflict in the Middle East has been disrupting financial markets, raising concerns about rising inflationary pressures and global economic growth. One market that some investors are particularly worried about has not been heavily covered in the news: the private credit market. Even before the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, global capital markets had faced growing structural pressure — the deteriorating funding conditions in the private credit market. The private credit market is where companies borrow funds directly from nonbank financial institutions such as asset management companies, insurance companies and private lending platforms. Its popularity has risen since
The Donald Trump administration’s approach to China broadly, and to cross-Strait relations in particular, remains a conundrum. The 2025 US National Security Strategy prioritized the defense of Taiwan in a way that surprised some observers of the Trump administration: “Deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority.” Two months later, Taiwan went entirely unmentioned in the US National Defense Strategy, as did military overmatch vis-a-vis China, giving renewed cause for concern. How to interpret these varying statements remains an open question. In both documents, the Indo-Pacific is listed as a second priority behind homeland defense and
In an op-ed published in Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said that Taiwan should not have to choose between aligning with Beijing or Washington, and advocated for cooperation with Beijing under the so-called “1992 consensus” as a form of “strategic ambiguity.” However, Cheng has either misunderstood the geopolitical reality and chosen appeasement, or is trying to fool an international audience with her doublespeak; nonetheless, it risks sending the wrong message to Taiwan’s democratic allies and partners. Cheng stressed that “Taiwan does not have to choose,” as while Beijing and Washington compete, Taiwan is strongest when
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) are expected to meet this month in Paris to prepare for a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). According to media reports, the two sides would discuss issues such as the potential purchase of Boeing aircraft by China, increasing imports of US soybeans and the latest impacts of Trump’s reciprocal tariffs. However, recent US military action against Iran has added uncertainty to the Trump-Xi summit. Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) called the joint US-Israeli airstrikes and the
RSS